Monday, December 9, 2013

Atlantis, Season 1, Episode 10: The Price of Hope

Hercules consults an information vendor/spy master, Creos
to find news of Medusa’s whereabouts – and he comes through. Hercules hurries
to pass the news to Pythagoras and Jason who don’t believe Creos since he’s a
known liar. And Pythagoras can’t find a cure for Medusa, though he can’t bring
himself to tell him that. Pythagoras has only one lead…

Jason goes to the Oracle to try and get Pandora’s Box
back, in the hope Pythagoras can use it to find a cure. The Oracle won’t
because the temptation to open it is too high – Jason points out he was never tempted
and we have another round of “but you’re so special Jason!” Jason asks why –
guessing at his mysterious mother being the cause of his specialness, but the
Oracle returns to evasions and crypticness. She does give him the box though…
gods know why.

Jason and Pythagoras go to see the super genius Daedalus.
His workshop is full of fascinating inventions Jason just has to poke (Jason,
you come from a world with MP3 players, airplanes and Miley Cyrus. Nothing
should surprise, impress or shock you). Daedalus pokes him repeatedly for
poking his inventions – and rightly so. In response to Daedalus being tempted to
open the box, they lock it and give the key to Jason (Daedalus doesn’t like Jason
and drives him out making goat noises. I find this quite a reasonable
response).

Daedalus is delightfully random in his genius and manages
to translate some of the words on the box – of course it’s “when all seems
lost, only hope remains.” (And we have an excellent little shout out to
mythology and Daedalus’s son, Icharus). Pythagoras thinks this is a good thing
but Daedalus rather awesomely points out you all have hope – even Hercules has
hope – everyone has hope, the world needs less hope and more brains. He looks
again at the box and translates the story of Admetus and Alcestis – which totally
shows there’s a cure for Medusa!

Pythagoras is all confused so Daedalus explains – the price
of the cure is Hercules’s life. Pythagoras goes to Hercules and Jason and tells
them there is no cure and that Jason should give the box back. Hercules falls
into a deep depression and Jason tells Pythagoras how Hercules is isolating
himself and blaming himself for what happened to Medusa (it being his fault and
all). They go to check up on him and find his room empty – and his sword
missing.

They go speak to Creos, who they do not like and he tells
them what he told Hercules – and that he didn’t lie. Of course, he also didn’t
tell them about the band of Scythians on the way waylaying travellers. Jason
threaten him and the man moves like a snake and puts a knife at Jason’s throat.
Jason is quicker and pins him to a wall. Of course that means having to deal
with Creos’s giant bodyguard. Blows seem to bounce off the man so they leave,
rapidly.

Pythagoras and Jason set off after Hercules and
Pythagoras fills Jason in that the Scythians like to hunt people for sport. And
along the way they find an altar dedicated to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. They
leave quickly but are followed by a woman carrying a bow

Along the trail they find what appears to be a woman whimpering in the road –
Jason goes to check on her and finds a man wielding a knife. It’s an ambush and
they’re captured. They’re taken to a cage where they find Hercules, already
captured. The plan of the Scythians is to hunt them down and the last one to
live gets to live.

Y’know, this whole “loving the thrill of the chase” seems
a little weak when we consider they used deception and ambush to capture them
in the first place. You use underhanded means to capture them so you can then
release them and hunt them more excitingly?

The hunt begins and they run – Hercules eventually calling out he can’t go any
further. Jason has Hercules and Pythagoras hide while he leads them away.
Hercules and Pythagoras fail at hiding (of course) but Hercules shows
surprising prowess in forcing the two Scythians to the ground and telling
Pythagoras to run.

Jason runs chased by most of the Sycthians and a sound
effects department that is overly enamoured of “whoosing” sounds. He manages to
get a lead on them and covers his tracks – joining Pythagoras. They are attacked
and Jason brings down all his opponents with impressive skill – but is stabbed
in the leg in the process.

Hercules hides up a tree and the Scythians go past. Of course, having shown
prowess in combat and brains, they then have the branch snap under him and a
bird crap on him. Because Hercules actually being impressive for five minutes
cannot stand! (The writers are not subtle)

Jason and Pythagoras manage to reach the altar of Artemis
– where they are surrounded by Scythians. Pythagoras tries to bluff the
Scythians – and they all start sprouting arrows. Loads of them die in seconds
victims of a blur barely seen through the trees –until the female archer
emerges.

She is Atalanta. Using apparently magic, she makes a
potion salve to apply to Jason’s wound. He asks why she saved him – she tells
him her goddess told her to and that they will meet in the future. She
reassures Pythagoras that Hercules could still be alive and reveals that she
was abandoned in the woods as a child – but always had Artemis by her side.
Pythagoras confirms that she had to use magic to heal Jason. Pythagoras tells
him Medusa’s story and, at Atalanta’s urging, also tells her how Hercules could
save Medusa and the story of Admetus and Alcestis. This is overheard by
Hercules, unknown to them, though he quickly joins the camp and pretends he
didn’t hear.

Hercules and Pythagoras talk and even though neither of them mention the cure
for Medusa, Hercules does say that Pythagoras is a good friend who always looks
out for him.

The next day, Atalanta has disappeared and Hercules tries
to convince them to take Jason back to the city with his wound – but he has
been magically healed. They insist on going with him (no sneaky suicide for
him).

They search the many caves on the coast, one of them home
to Medusa, and Hercules awkwardly tries to make nice with Jason as well, his “I’m
saying goodbye without saying goodbye” speech. They find a cave with statues
and Hercules goes inside to talk to Medusa, though she has little hope left to
her and is sinking into despair.

Outside Pythagoras tells Jason about the cure and Jason realises that Hercules
knows – that his clumsy bonding was an attempt to say goodbye.

In the cave, Hercules tells Medusa to look at him, it’ll be
ok, he’ll be fine and it will cure her. She turns to look and Jason hurries in
and turns Hercules away – and looks at Medusa. Jason is not turned to stone.
Jason tells her what Hercules was doing and she doesn’t want it – she couldn’t
live knowing he had sacrificed himself for her. She’d rather be cursed.

Hercules again says Pythagoras is a good friend and tells
Medusa he will keep looking for a cure.

In the myth, Admetus was fated to die but lived because
Alcestis (his wife) chose to die in his place. Ironically, the happy ending
came because Hercules dropped in, loved the spread Admetus laid out, and
decided to beat up Thanatos until he brought Alcestis back

Atalanta! Yes, I’m a mythology geek but I do so love
these shout outs! Especially since these shout outs are pretty close to the
actual mythology.

I’m glad to see some glimmers of Hercules’s competence
and even some depth to him – but he’s still the clown of the series.